Get the Look

How to Halloween with what’s already in your make up bag

Whether you’ll be channelling a sexy skeleton, a sexy vamp or ditching ‘sexy’ altogether and opting for those creepy, china doll vibes (*shudder*), we’ve found some Hallowe’en-themed beauty looks you can achieve with what’s already in your make up bag.

{Vampire Vibes}

If you’re a bit of a novice/have received a last-minute invite and need to look scarily good in ten minutes, you can channel {Desi Perkins} blood-sucking bombshell with little more than a matte lip and a spectrum of smoky shadows. 

That too-pale foundation you’ve resigned to the back of the beauty drawer? Resurrect it and apply all over skin to achieve an appropriately ghostly pallor, then line your eyes with liquid liner and smudge lashings of moody-hued charcoal and deep red eyeshadow all over the lids, continuing the colour underneath the lower lashes to create a sultry, ‘living dead’ effect.

Line and define lips with a suitably sanguineous hue. Huda Beauty’s {Liquid Matte} in ‘Vixen’ is appropriately kiss-of-death-resistant, or try Rituel de Fille’s {Forbidden Lipstick} in ‘Written in Blood’. Smear a little extra on your chin to maximise the caught blood-sucking look, then finish with a ‘puncture’ on your neck for Draculaic bonus points.

You can watch Desi’s step-by-step ‘Vamp to Vampire’ tutorial right {here}.

{China Doll}

How much do you love Annamarie Tendler Mulaney’s {@amtendler} cracked china doll look? The perfect mix of cute and creepy, it’s actually ultra-easy to achieve. 

Again, you’re going to need a too-pale base and lots of (preferably not-very translucent) powder to create that chalky, porcelain-skinned finish. Then it’s all about the bold brows, ‘Bambi’ eyes and glossy lips – all do-able with your trusty {Dipbrow}, mascara, liquid liner and a creamy red lipstick (we love Charlotte Tilbury’s {K.I.S.S.I.N.G} lipstick in ‘Love Bite’).

For the ‘cracks’, use a fine-tipped liner in black or brown – Prestige’s {Liquid Eyeliner} comes in Black-Brown and has an elongated, tapered handle for control. 

Finish with a light dusting of pink blush and get set to inspire nightmares.

{Skeleton Girl}

Since Lady Gaga teamed up with the ‘Zombie Boy’ for her groundbreaking ‘Born this Way’ video, Hallowe’en has seen an influx of sexy, pink-ponytailed skeletons stalking the streets trick-or-treating. 

Not for the faint-hearted (it requires a degree of creativity), the skull-baring look can be accomplished with the *bare bones* of your make up bag (pun intended). 

Once you’ve blanked out your canvas (use the palest, full coverage base you can find), use a pot of creamy black shadow or waterproof gel liner ({Anastasia Beverly Hills} {Waterproof Crème Colour} is perfect), along with a fine artist’s paint- or specialist eyeliner brush to sketch the outlines of your skull, then ‘fill in’ and blur any edges for a hauntingly gorgeous effect.

SHOP ALL MAKE UP >> 



Verity Douglas

Verity Douglas

Content Editor

Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...